The path ahead of me is very narrow and obscure with many treacherous twists and bends in the road. The thought to forge ahead when there are no guarantees that the walk will be smooth and pleasant is extremely scary. It takes a lot of guts and a strong-willed mindset to travel down a path where you cannot see where it leads. Time and time again, I wonder if the path I have chosen is where I should be headed or if a fork in the road ahead will result in even more strenuous challenges ahead. I worry. I doubt. I lose all of my hope and faith. Why? Because the rebel within me emerges when I find that the path I have chosen does not lead me to the end of the road as quickly enough as I would like to get there.

And then I hear His whisper, “Patience, my child. You will get there in time.”

Yes, I hear this countless times. But do I really listen and take heed?

No.

Admittedly, this path is not an easy one to travel. When certain things don’t go as I had planned, I feel unsure and unconvinced that my plans are consistent with God’s will. When I feel defeated, I lose any faith I have in myself and in His plans for me. I question myself, “Am I following the right path, the one that He wants me to follow?”

As I stand on this path feeling weary, I ask for the Lord’s guidance relentlessly to help me move forward in life and to not dwell on the past, to look ahead and not behind me where I have already been, to make choices that will serve me better than the ones I have made in the past. But when I don’t hear a clear answer from Him, I feel discouraged.

Actually, I am not being attentive to the answers He wants me to hear or see.

His way of answering my prayers is by the signs that are manifested in my everyday life. Sometimes, I ignore these signs and other times, I am careful to follow His lead. The signs remind me of why my journey is so important for me and how I can make this journey more fulfilling for myself. And to get there, I must choose faith over fear.

I must walk in faith.

One. Step. At. A. Time.

As I was perusing Courage 2 Create today, I started to ponder the following quote on this blog:

“Whereas Hope is the belief that things can get better, Faith is the knowing that things will get better.”

And I began to tell myself these very words: “It is not enough to hope that things will get better. It is not enough to believe that things will get better. I have to KNOW that things WILL get better.”

So I look at the path behind me that I have traveled thus far only to reflect upon the chaotic times that did in fact become easier and calmer, the then-turbulent problems that are now so trivial and the journey that has transformed me from who I was to who I am now. And I recognize that it has only gotten better.

Indeed, I stumble on my journey through the darkest valleys, the raging waters, the heaviest storms and the most dangerous fires that I encounter. But God continues to encourage me along, lighting my way to keep me from sinking. Sometimes, remembering this is all it takes for me to pick myself back up and walk along in faith because I KNOW something wonderful is waiting for me in the end which will make all the difference.

As of late, I have been paralyzed with the fear of losing a dear friendship. This is a profoundly divine friendship with my big brother whom I visited daily and with whom I exchanged many thought-provoking conversations in the recent past. These everyday exchanges became somewhat of a normal routine for me and sometimes the only moments of solace that I would actually get to experience. Last month, I chose to leave the company for which we both worked. The thought of not being able to see my brother day after day was beyond disturbing but it was a truth that sooner or later I would need to accept. I feared that our friendship would soon dissipate if I did not do everything in my control to nurture it.

Control. This can get the best of me, too.

In my desire to control and maintain an atmosphere of our friendship similar to what it was like prior to my parting, I became irritated and perturbed when my methods of trying to connect with my brother failed. As a result, I began to doubt my trust in him. My faith wavered when I noticed that our friendship was not continuing the way I would have hoped for it to. In the very few conversations I had with him over the last several weeks, I acted out of fear and anger as I sensed that he did not view the need for growing our friendship through my lens. And there I was, too weak and weary to even focus on my faith in God that he would make things right.

Last Sunday when my brother and I finally connected on the phone, he asked me to take what I would call a gigantic leap of faith – a leap that would mean fully accepting, believing and trusting that he cares about me and our friendship without having to demonstrate or prove it constantly. And that everything will all fall into its own place if there is faith. All I could think was this:

He was asking for too much. And NO way was I going to do that. How could I carry on patiently without knowing that he was okay? How could I be okay with not hearing from him daily when that is what I was accustomed to for so long?

This was going to be a difficult leap and one that was way out of my comfort zone. Not knowing daily how my brother was doing or what was troubling him and not hearing his voice would require a tremendous amount of patience and courage on my part. I was just not ready for that leap; I was not ready to let go. As always, he was very considerate and did not impose any of his notions upon me. He gave me some time to think about whether or not I can take this leap. And he would still be content if I just could not.

At that point, I was in a state of utter confusion and deep introspection. Though I absolutely knew that taking this leap was the best course of action for the growth of our friendship, I questioned any faith that I had in myself. Did I value and love this friendship enough to take such a huge leap? Was there another life lesson to be learned from taking this leap? I could only pray to God diligently and ask him to lead my way.

Over the last few days as I pondered the choice to take the leap or not, I happened to attend one of the most unique and inspirational sessions presented by Cherie Cross on accepting and appreciating human differences as well as our own humanness. The key messages that I learned from this particular session were that people are not out to get you, that you should express your love to the people in your life and believe that they are doing the best with what they can and finally, that what they do or don’t do is NOT PERSONAL; it’s just their style!

Cherie ended the session with a very touching excerpt from Og Mandino’s book called The Greatest Salesman in the World:

I will greet this day with love in my heart.

For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the market place. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against its force.

My reasoning they may counter; my speech they may distrust; my apparel they may disapprove; my face they may reject and even my bargains may cause them suspicion; yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest clay.

I will greet this day with love in my heart.

And how will I act? I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden. With love I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate which they have built around their hearts and in its place will I build bridges so that my love may enter their souls.

I will greet this day with love in my heart.

And how will I confront each whom I meet? In only one way. In silence and to myself I will address him and say I Love You. Though spoken in silence these words will shine in my eyes, unwrinkle my brow, bring a smile to my lips and echo in my voice; and his heart will be opened. And who is there who will say nay to my goods when his heart feels my love?

I will greet this day with love, and I will suc­ceed.

Interestingly enough, just when Cherie stated the last line of this excerpt, I received a text message from my brother stating “I have faith that you will make it work.” I could not stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. There are no coincidences in life, but rather signs that God has a way of revealing in the right place and at the right time, in His own time. My only thoughts at that moment were that I must let go of the fear that I have about our precious friendship dissolving and surrender to God’s love.

Love is a four-letter word but one so powerful that when offered with the goodness of your heart, it can change the world. I must act out of love for my brother and not in anger, desperation or a need to be right. It is NOT important for me to be right, but rather to get it right – to shower unconditional love in this friendship that will take it a long way, to be understanding of situations that warrant it, to refrain from taking his actions or inactions personally, to be forgiving when mistakes are made or when plans change and to completely trust him knowing that although he may not be able tend to my desires continually, that he really DOES care.

I presume that God is calling me to jump with all my heart and all my strength, and to have faith that He is already there on the other side waiting to catch me; that He will come through for me in the end.

So I eagerly wait to tell my brother this: “I, too, have faith that I will make it work.”

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